• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.347-353
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• 2001

Objectives : To determine the impacts of Diagnosis-Related Groups/Prospective Payment System (DRG/PPS) on the quality of care in cases of Cesarean section and to describe the policy implications for the early stabilization of DRG/PPS in Korea. Methods : Data was collected from the medical records of 380 patients who had undergone Cesarean sections in 40 hospitals participating in the DRG/PPS Demonstration Program since 1999. Cesarean sections were peformed in 122 patients of the FFS(Fee-For-Service) group and 258 patients of the DRG/PPS group. Measurements of quality used included essential tests of pre- and post-operation, and the PPI(Physician Performance Index) score. The PPI was developed by two obstetricians. Results : Univariate analysis demonstrated significant differences in PPI scores according to the payment systems. With respect to the mean of PPI scores, a higher score was found in the DRG/PPS group than in the FFS group. However, the adjusted effect did not show significant differences between the FFS group and the DRG/PPS group. Conclusion : This study suggested that the problem of poor quality may not be related to the implementation of DRG/PPS in Cesarean section. However, this study did not consider the validity and reliability of the process measurement, and it did not exclude the possibility of data emission in medical records.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.178-184
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• 2020

Background: Korea set up a new diagnosis-related group as a demonstration project in 2009. The new diagnosis-related group was reformed in 2016. The main purpose of the study is to identify the effect of reform on coverage of national health insurance. Methods: This study collected inpatient data from a hospital that contains medical information and cost from 2015 July to 2016 June. The dependent variable was the coverage of national health insurance. The dependent variable was divided by total, internal medicine partition, surgical partition, and psychiatric partition. To analyze the effect of the reform, this study conducted an interrupted time series analysis. The final sample included 23,695. Results: The health insurance coverage of internal medicine has the highest, followed by surgery and psychiatry. The health insurance coverage of bundle payment is higher than that of unbundled payment. The proportion of bundled payment and non-benefit decreased and the proportion of unbundled payment increased. The coverage of national health insurance significantly increased after policy reform in internal medicine partition (p-value=0.0356). Conclusion: The results of the study imply that policy reform enhanced the coverage of national health insurance in internal medicine. The government needs to monitor side effects such as an increase of unbundled payment.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.13.1-13.8
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• 2023

Importance of accurate molecular diagnosis and quantification of particular disease-related pathogenic microorganisms is highlighted as an introductory step to prevent and care for diseases. In this study, we designed a primer/probe set for quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) targeting rgpA gene, known as the specific virulence factor of periodontitis-related pathogenic bacteria 'Porphyromonas gingivalis', and evaluated its diagnostic efficiency by detecting and quantifying relative bacterial load of P. gingivalis within saliva samples collected from clinical subjects. As a result of qRT-PCR, we confirmed that relative bacterial load of P. gingivalis was detected and quantified within all samples of positive control and periodontitis groups. On the contrary, negative results were confirmed in both negative control and healthy groups. Additionally, as a result of comparison with next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based 16S metagenome profiling data, we confirmed relative bacterial load of P. gingivalis, which was not identified on bacterial classification table created through 16S microbiome analysis, in qRT-PCR results. It showed that an approach to quantifying specific microorganisms by applying qRT-PCR method could solve microbial misclassification issues at species level of an NGS-based 16S microbiome study. In this respect, we suggest that P. gingivalis-specific primer/probe set introduced in present study has efficient applicability in various oral healthcare industries, including periodontitis-related microbial molecular diagnosis field.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 1995

Open lung biopsy still has important roles for the marking of diagnosis of diffuse infiltrative lung disease even though transbronchial bronchoscopic lung biopsy and percutaneous needle aspiration biopsy gain popularity nowadays. This is clinical retrospective review of the 56 patients with diffuse infiltrative lung disease undergoing open lung biopsy by minithoracotomy from 1984 to Dec. 1992 in the Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery of Catholic University Medical College. 27 men and 29 women, aged 17 to 73 year [mean 49 year , were enrolled & divided into 2 groups;Group A consisted of patients with immunocompromised state [n=19 , Group B patients with non-immunocompromised state[n=38 . Pathologic diagnosis was made in 54 cases[96.4% of these two groups and as follows: infectious; 12 patients[21.4% , Neoplastic; 10 patients[17.9% , granulomatous; 4 patients[7.1% , interstitial pneumonia; 12 patients[21.4% , Pulmonary fibrosis; 8 patients[14.3% , others; 3 patients[5.4% , nonspecific; 5 patients[8.9% , and undetermined; 2 patients[3.6% . Therapeutic plans were changed in 39 patients[69.6% after taking of tissue diagnosis by open lung biopsy. Group B has higher incidence of infectious diseases and change of therapeutic plan than the Group A. The postoperative complications developed in 8 cases[14.3% ,and there is no difference of incidence between the 2 groups. 4 patients belongs to group A, died of respiratory distress syndrome [2 and sepsis [2 which were not related with open lung biopsy procedure. In conclusion, open lung biopsy is a reliable method to obtain a diagnosis in diffuse pulmonary infiltrates and can be performed safely, even in acutely ill, immunosuppressed patients.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.321-332
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• 2013

Purpose: Korean health insurance extended application of the Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG) payment system to tertiary and general hospitals from July, 2013. This study was done to develop a DRG fee adjustment mechanism applied to levels of nurse staffing to assure quality nursing service. Methods: Nurse stafffing grades among hospitals in Korea were analyzed. Differences and ratio of inpatient costs by nurse staffing grades in DRG fees and differences of DRG fee between tertiary and general hospitals were compared. Results: In 2013, nurse staffing grades in tertiary and general hospitals had improved, but other hospital nurse staffing grades remained at the 2001 level. Gaps of inpatient costs between first and seventh nurse staffing grades were over 10% in 4 out of 7 DRG diagnosis; However differences of DRG fee between tertiary and general hospitals were only 4.51% and 4.72% respectively. A DRG fee adjustment mechanism was developed that included nurse staffing grades and hospitalization days as factors of the formula. Conclusion: Current DRG fees motivate hospitals to decrease nurse staffing grades because cost reduction is bigger than compensation. This DRG fee adjustment mechanism reflects nurse staffing supply to motivate hospitals to hire more nurses as a reasonable compensation system.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.103-111
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• 2013

Seven diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) prospective payment system is going to expand to all hospitals including university hospitals this year. However there are few studies on the change of practice pattern under prospective payment system in the university hospital setting. So This study was intended to predict the practice pattern change after the introduction of 7 DRGs prospective payment system in a university hospital setting. To predict the change of practice pattern, this study used simulation technique. Five hundred and nineteen patients classified as 5 DRGs in a university hospital were selected for simulation. The change of practice pattern were predicted based on clinicians' opinion. We also predicted payment change by service items. Major findings of this study are as follows. First, the total medical payment was reduced by 14.4%. The drug payment change (8.8%) took most of total payment reduction. The followings are the change of treatment material cost (3.2%), the change of laboratory tests cost (1.8%), the change of room charge (0.5%), and other payment change (0.1%), respectively. Second, most of the reduction in total medical payment resulted from the decreased amount of medical services themselves. The transfer of medical services to outpatient setting took up only 4.9% of the total payment reduction. The change of unit price or composition took up 5.5% of the total payment reduction. In this study we found that it is possible to reduce the inpatient services through practice pattern change in university hospital setting. However, it needs to be careful to adjust DRG payment after the reduction of provided services, because most of reduction was not due to service transfer but to service volume reduction. It is desirable to utilize the saving from practice pattern change as incentive to improve quality of care.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.77-95
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• 2006

The present study was conducted to examine the degree of variation in length-of-stay (LOS) among health care institutions participating in 17 diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) payment system and to find out hospital characteristics affecting the variation. Electronic medical claims data for treatments of severity classification '0' of 17 DRGs provided for two $years(2003{\sim}2004)$ were collected. For each DRG, the degree of variation in average LOS among health care institutions were analyzed using the random effect model. For DRGs showing significant differences in LOS, multiple regression analyses were performed to find out factors associated with LOS. Significant variations in LOS were observed 9 DRGs including unilateral/bilateral lens procedures, adult/child tonsilectomy, other anal procedures, bilateral adult/child herniorraphy, unilateral child herniorraphy, and hysterectomy, and hysterectomy using laparoscopic procedure. Among the 9 DRGs, five DRGs were selected to investigate the factors explaining for the variation. It was observed that the location of institution was significant predictors for all five DRGs. Within the same DRGs, LOS was significantly shorter among the institutions located in Seoul than those in other areas. As compared to clinics, hospitals and general hospitals/tertiary care institutions showed significantly longer LOS for DRGs of lens procedures, tonsilectomy, and other anal procedures. It is recommended that the institutions located in other than Seoul area benchmark the strategies of the institution in Seoul in efficiently managing LOS. Also, significant variation within the same severity classification such as other anal procedures implies the imminent need for improvement of patient classification system.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.178-185
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• 2018

Background: We investigated association between introduction of the diagnosis-related groups (DRG) system for anal operation and length of stay. Also, we investigated how it is different among hospitals with longer length of stay and among hospitals with shorter length of stay before introduction of the DRG system. Methods: We used data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment which were national health insurance claim data. Total 13,111 cases of anal surgery cases were included which were claimed by hospitals since July 2012 to June 2014. Two-level multivariable regression was conducted to analysis the association between length of stay and characteristics of hospital and patient. Results: Before introducing DRGs, the average length of stay was 5.41 days. After introducing DRGs, average length of stay was decreased to 3.92 days. After introducing DRGs, length of stay has decreased (${\beta}=-1.0450$, p<0.0001) and it was statistically significant. Among hospitals which had short length of stay (shorter than mean of length of stay) before introducing DRGs, effect of introducing DRGs was smaller (${\beta}=-0.4282$, p<0.0001). On contrary, among hospitals which had long length of stay (longer than mean of length of stay) before introducing DRGs, effect of introducing DRGs was bigger (${\beta}=-1.8280$, p<0.0001). Conclusion: Introducing DRGs was more effective to hospitals which had long length of stay before introducing DRGs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.635-639
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• 2015

Background: In the absence of routine screening program for cervical cancer in Iran and high rate of diagnosed cancer in its advanced stage, recognition of sociodemographic factors related to delayed diagnosis of cancer in Iran could be helpful in reducing the burden of disease in our community. The aim of this study was to determine the stage of cervical cancer at diagnosis and factors related to delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer in Isfahan, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study women diagnosed with cervical cancer for the first time by histo-pathological examination were enrolled. According to the clinical and paraclinical findings and staging of the cancer, they were classified into early and delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer. Sociodemographic factors were compared in the two groups. Results: In this study of 55 women mean age was $48.3{\pm}12.0.$ According to our classification 6/55 (10.9%) and 49/55 (89.1%) of them had early and delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer. Delayed diagnosis of the cancer was significantly higher in patients with lower degree of education, lower socioeconomic status, having smoker and addict husband and those who did not have a history of Pap smear test (p<0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study indicated risk factors related to delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer. The affected women should be targeted for implementation of specialized educational programmes for improving knowledge and screening test.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.112-122
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• 2016

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the validity of 'Korean Diagnosis Related Groups-Korean Medicine (KDRG-KM)' which was developed by Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) in 2013 Methods: Among inpatient EDI claim data issued by hospitals and clinics in 2012, the data which included Korean medicine procedures were selected and analyzed. We selected control targets in the Korean medicine hospitals which had longer Episodes-Costliness index (ECI) and Lengthiness index (LI) than average of total Korean medicine hospitals, and compared the results of selection between the major diagnosis-based patient classification system and the KDRG-KM system. Finally, the explanation power (R2) and coefficient of variation (CV) of the KDRG-KM system using practice expenses were calculated. Results: The numbers of control target in Korean medicine hospitals changed from 36 to 32 when patient grouping adjustment method was changed from major diagnosis to KDRG-KM. For expenses of all outpatient claim data on Korean medicine, explanation power of KDRG-KM system was 66.48% after excluding outliers. CVs of expenses of patient groups in Korean medicine hospitals were gathered from under 70% to under 90%, and those in long-term care hospitals mostly belonged under 70%. Conclusions: The validity of KDRG-KM system was assured in terms of explanation power. By adapting KDRG-KM system, fairness of control targets selection for costliness management in Korean medicine hospitals can be enhanced.